Death Shadow
by AmateurSilverWolf
Summary: She thought she had escaped her past, but a chance encounter sends her crashing into a world that she had been trying to avoid.
1. Chapter 1

Chapter 1

It was your typical New York morning. Lots of noise and people all rushing from one place to another. Fall was in full swing with pumpkin spice products everywhere. Winter weather would be coming soon, but today was just the right temperature to wear a light jacket and be comfortable. Bucky liked to walk the streets at this time in the morning because most people didn't have time to stop and recognize him. He could just be another guy on the street. He was walking past an alley when there was a loud crash. He whipped around ready for an attack. He relaxed quickly when he saw what made the noise. Down the alley, a couple of trashcans had fallen over. He could see a person on the ground that had probably been using them as a climbing point to get in the larger dumpster next to where they should have been. He stepped out of the way of the foot traffic, so people would stop running into him. He watched unnoticed as the figure picked themselves off the ground as they mumbled to themselves about being clumsy. His heart fell as the figure stood up straight, and he realized that it wasn't an adult, but a kid. Based on their clothing and their appearance, the kid had been on the streets for a long time. The girl (no guy had that high of a voice) was obviously thinner than was healthy. He thought back to his days on the run before Steve had found him again, and he had been allowed to live in the Avenger's Tower. He had seen a lot of people that had to live on the outskirts of society. Unfortunately, he had also seen many kids that were homeless either because they had no family or no family that would care for them. He had always tried to watch out for them and slip them food when he could. He had seen too many dying of hunger to just ignore this girl. He started to approach her to see if she wanted to go with him to get food from somewhere. He was also trying to figure out how to do that without seeming like a total creep. At least his metal arm was covered by his jacket, so that shouldn't cause too much of an issue. As he got closer, he made sure to make some noise, so she would hear him coming. Her head snapped in his direction as his foot hits a piece of trash. He paused as she stared at him. Her eyes were a striking blue-green, and he could tell she was assessing him. Now that he was closer he could see the bags under her eyes and the layer of grime on her clothes that were wearing thin. It was already getting colder as the winter months crept up on the city. He narrowed his eyes as he took in her stance. She was in a fighting stance as she examined him to determine his threat level. He expected that. What he didn't expect was that her stance mirrored his own from just a few minutes ago. She couldn't have been more than 15, but she stood like she'd been well trained and fighting for years. She only stared at him for a few seconds before terror entered her eyes. He opened his mouth to explain himself, but she whispered something that stopped him in his tracks.

"Солдат"

He dropped back into defense mode even as he struggled to place how she could know him.

Hi! I'm extremely new at this. Never done this before. Constructive criticism is welcome. I am planning on adding more chapters, but I don't know how that will take me. Let me know if you like it. Please. Thanks.


	2. Chapter 2

Kate thought she started out the day doing fairly well, which honestly should have been a warning sign. She had actually slept well in the box she had found, and no one had disturbed her. She found a dumpster that smelled promising next to one of the restaurants. It was all going well until the seemingly stable trashcans fell over which threw Kate backwards and knocked the wind out of her. Grumbling to herself, she climbed back to her feet and glared at the offending objects.

Kate had been on the streets for about a year. She had maintained a very low, almost nonexistent profile. Before she lived on the streets, Kate had been part of Hydra for almost seven years before she had escaped. They had taken her from her large neglectful family. At the time, she was glad to have adults around her that cared about her. As Kate grew, she began to understand that the way they saw her was not as a kid, but a weapon under development. As soon as she was healthy enough, they began their training regime. The Hydra scientists woke her up early in the morning to put her through vigorous exercises before she was allowed any food. After a breakfast of cold military rations, there were classes where she learned all the typical school subjects with an additional six language classes. Luckily for Kate, she was a quick study and picked up everything they chose to teach her quite easily. The same rations were provided for a brief lunch before going to her afternoon training session taught by the more elite of the Hydra agents. She was trained in multiple forms of combat, defense, and espionage. After which if she had done well, she was given more rations before being told to sleep.

This was her daily routine for most of her time at Hydra. By the time Kate turned 13, she had become one of Hydra's top weapons. The final addition to her abilities was the serum. They gave Kate the same serum that had gone into the Winter Soldier. After she had recovered from her procedure, Hydra's scientists tested her skills against Hydra's other agents that were much older, bigger, and more experienced in actual combat than her. She beat everyone that challenged her, except one. The only time Kate was put against the Winter Soldier, she lost. She hadn't been faced by him again because he was required for a mission. Hydra's leaders were proud of the work that was accomplished through their weapon. Kate had been effectively brainwashed similar to the Winter Soldier, but seemingly without needing a series of words to control her. As soon as she started going on missions, she became known by the guiding powers of Hydra as their perfect weapon. She killed on order, acquired any desired information, and never questioned the motive or morality of any order. At least, Kate never thought to question her superiors until her last mission.

She had been ordered to follow and report the activities of a well-known man. Her age made it easy to blend in with the crowds. She had followed him as he did press conferences, business meetings, public appearances, and spent time with his friends. All Hydra told her when she began this assignment was that this man was a selfish coward, but threatened Hydra's future endeavors. The agent that had been sent before her to take him out had failed. After following him for a year, she had gotten access into every part of his life. As she watched him relax in his suite with his fiancé, she received new orders from her handler. Kate was ordered to kill the man and anyone else that was with him. Kate hadn't hesitated to go to his building, hack his security system, and confront her target where he was. Both of the room's occupants had frozen when she stepped out of the shadows with her face mask in place and her gun aimed at her main target's head. In the arrogant way she had come to associate with the man, he stepped in front of the woman and demanded her name and purpose. Seeing no reason not to tell the soon-to-be-dead man, she relayed her code name and orders. She waited for the typical whining and bargaining that usually came after that, but was shocked when he didn't even try to bargain for himself. He only requested that his fiancé be allowed to leave. Kate's mind began to question if Hydra was right, but why would they lie to her? She quickly shut down those traitorous thoughts and focused back on the mission at hand. She had obviously paused too long. Just as she was about to pull the trigger, a man with blonde hair and frantic eyes burst into the room. Upon seeing her as the obvious threat, he threw the shield he had been carrying at her chest. She easily caught the projectile much to the shock of the thrower. She briefly studied its design before locking eyes with the man as she let the shield clatter to the floor. Before their shock had worn off, Kate ran to the balcony and jumped to the next building. She didn't return to Hydra. She chose to live on the streets. Slowly over time Hydra's brainwashing wore off, and Kate began to remember more about her life before Hydra.

Now as the fifteen year old glared, she heard a sudden noise down the alley towards the street. Kate quickly turned and realized that she had grown lax with her training. She recognized the Hydra agent coming towards her and whispered his code name before she could stop herself. All possible escape routes flashed through her mind as he dropped into a defensive position. Kate knew that going back to Hydra was not an acceptable option. She watched as the Winter Soldier pushed a button on his high-tech watch which most likely was to inform his handler that he had located the target, so like any good ex-Hydra agent, she panicked and ran.

* * *

Authors Note:

Hey all. I know the first chapter was kinda squished all together. I'm still working on figuring out how this site works. Thank you for your patience and reading my story. Best wishes!


	3. Chapter 3

Bucky ran through all the people he could remember from Hydra. He locked onto a memory he had from a few years ago of battling another Hydra agent with similar enhancements to himself. That agent had been one of the most skilled, lethal, and loyal agents he had ever seen. They had called her Death Shadow, and she was standing right in front of him. Any reason that she was operating in New York couldn't be good, so he quickly pressed the emergency button on his watch that would summon the other Avengers from the nearby tower. Luckily they had been in the city to have a meeting. Otherwise, his teammates would have been far away at the Avengers compound.

He watched as she turned to run. He couldn't let her out of his sight or she would disappear for sure. The Avengers needed to know what Hydra was doing in the area. He chased her as she ran down the alley. He was a bit faster than she was due to his loner legs, but just as Bucky caught up to her, she launched herself off of one of the dumpsters to grab halfway up a fire escape and started climbing. He quickly followed suit and began to climb. As they reached the roof, Bucky heard the telltale sound of Iron Man's suit. Bucky sighed in relief. Hopefully with his teammates' help, they'd be able to catch and contain her with minimal damage.

"Oh god," Kate whispered as her eyes went wide. She had been halfway across the roof when Iron Man landed a few feet in front of her. She slid to a halt on the gravel roof. Maybe he was there for the Winter Soldier? Her hopes were quickly dashed as he raised his gauntlet and aimed for her face.

"Stand down, kid," came the voice from the metal suit. "I don't want to hurt you, but if metal arm over there thought you are enough of a threat to push the emergency button then I'm inclined to believe him."

"She's Hydra's best weapon," the Winter Soldier cut in.

Kate was beginning to panic. This is not how today was supposed to go. She turned to run to the other side of the roof, but froze as she got a better sense of the mess she was in. to one side, the Black Widow and Hawkeye stood ready to engage. She may have been enhanced, but she wasn't stupid enough to not be intimidated by the pair. She glanced to the other side of the roof to see that Captain America in all his star-spangled glory had also appeared on this seemingly shrinking rooftop. Why weren't they attacking the Soldier? Were they all part of Hydra? That thought sent a chill straight to her bones. Nowhere would be safe with them after her. She sighed as she began to accept that she wasn't going to make it off this roof without a fight, and she had been having such a nice morning. She reached into her pocket and pulled out her old mask. It was the only thing from her assassin days that she couldn't seem to part with. It was solid black and covered all but her eyes. She pulled it over her head with a growl of annoyance.

"Guys, I'm pretty sure that's not a surrender mask," Hawkeye said.

"Just give up and we'll go easy on you. There's no need to-" Captain America tried but was cut off as Kate used his plea as a distraction to launch herself at Iron Man.

 **Sorry this chapter took so long to get posted. I'll try to do better. Thanks for reading!**


End file.
